Jack
By the time I got home from a long Saturday at the office, I was tired and hungry.
And my chef was nowhere in sight.
I strolled through the apartment, glancing in Elise’s bedroom. Her bed was made, but she was nowhere.
Guess I was fending for myself tonight.
“Hello!” came her voice, followed by the front door slamming closed. “Sorry I’m late. I’ll have food ready in just a minute,” she called out.
I was taking advantage by asking Elise to cook three meals a week. Or maybe I wasn’t. She was living here for free. But I could have asked her to do any number of things less personal. Run errands. Buy groceries. Somehow cooking was personal, and I’d wanted it that way. Granted, I’d freaked out seeing how she’d set the table the first time with womanly attention to detail because it had reminded me of my mother, and my knee-jerk reaction was to back away from that intimacy. But dinner with Elise was growing on me.
I changed and walked out to help her. As much as I justified to myself asking her to cook, she worked hard at the health department and supporting her sister, and I was beginning to feel guilty.
It turned out I didn’t need to.
Fast-food cartons were strewn on the kitchen counter, and I sniffed the air. “Indian?”
She looked up from where she was setting out utensils. “Is that okay? You said you liked curry. I ran into a place near Soph’s shop on my way home. Takeout tonight made the most sense, with both of us working and me getting home late.”
“It’s great,” I said. “I should have messaged and told you not to worry about dinner. I’ll reimburse you.”
She waved me off. “My treat. I appreciate your letting me stay here.”
If my suspicions were right concerning how dire Elise’s savings account was, I wasn’t okay with her paying for anything. Taking advantage of someone pressed for cash went against every cell in my body.
I sat in one of the barstools, plotting ways to return the cash she’d spent, and in no time we were both scarfing down butter chicken and naan.
She moaned, and a shiver ran down my spine straight to my groin. I stopped chewing and stared at her mouth.
Her plump lips were pressed together, juices making the flesh glisten, and her beautiful face was happily focused on the food in front of her.
So just me thinking about moaning and the bedroom and pleasure. Fuck. “This is great,” I said, voice tight. “Thanks for picking it up.”
“No worries. How was your day?” She looked over eagerly, like she actually cared.
The only women in my life who’d ever cared about how I was doing were my childhood friend, Lizzie, and Elise’s sister, Sophia. Lizzie couldn’t help herself. She was like a sister and nagged me like one. And Sophia was just a good person. This caring gene must run in the family.
I considered how to answer the question because it was complicated. “Going okay.”
She set her fork down, studying me. “Just okay?”
“Thalia’s on top of everything with the new company. She’s got the employees working on tasks that push the mission forward. She’s much better at being a taskmaster than I ever was.”
“That’s why you hired her, isn’t it?” She sipped a glass of water and wiped her mouth with a paper napkin she must have gotten from the Indian place, because I wasn’t organized enough to keep that shit around.
“Basically. I’m good at coming up with ideas and bringing in the right people. Not so good at managing them.”
“So this is a good thing. Having Thalia run the day-to-day?”
“Mm-hmm.”
She set her fork down. “Jackson, why the glum look?”
I shot her a glare, and she smiled. She was killing me with the nickname. “Thalia is a little too good at bringing people together. She wants everyone to meet up for drinks in an hour.”
Elise scratched her head. “I’m not seeing the problem here.”
I shrugged. “I don’t like hanging out with strangers.”
She squinted. “First of all, you work with these people, so they’re not strangers. Second, how do you meet new people if you don’t like being around people you don’t know? You’ve dated because Soph has regaled me with your dating misadventures.”
I should have taken offense at that comment, but I couldn’t because it was true. “Don’t know. Somehow, I manage.” I looked over, a thought coming to mind. I hadn’t liked Elise going on a date, but maybe it was because I inherently didn’t trust men after attending private schools with entitled assholes who treated women like garbage. Maybe if I could find a good guy for Elise, I wouldn’t mind her dating someone else. “Why don’t you join us?” I said. “I can screen people for you and rule out needy men.”
She laughed. “That is tempting,” she said, scooping up saag paneer with naan. “Can you really tell just by looking?”
“It’s more a vibe,” I said, following her move with the bread. “I’m good at reading people. Probably why I don’t like hanging out with them. Too many are dicks.”
“Don’t you have to chat up rich strangers while hanging out with Max and his high-society acquaintances?”
“Yep.”
She shook her head. “You’re a conundrum, Jackson.”
“Thank you.”
This back-and-forth felt natural, unfortunately. Good thing I planned to help Elise find a good guy and rule myself out of the equation.
“Okay, well”—she shrugged lightly—“I don’t have anything going on tonight. I’ll come for a drink or two.”
Fuck me.
This night wasn’t going as planned. Men inside this cesspool of a bar where we met up were all over Elise, while she smiled and flirted. To add to my suffering, Thalia was too handsy after getting a drink or two in her.
“Jackson!” Elise called drunkenly, though not too drunk, I noted. Just enough to be beautiful and draw attention. “Meet Brendon,” she said and waggled her eyebrows in a suggestive way behind the guy’s back.
I already hated him.
But I shook his hand and introduced myself. We chatted for a few minutes, and when he turned to order another drink, I sent Elise a thumbs-down.
She pouted, ditched the guy a short time later, and returned to the table. “Darn, I thought he might be a keeper,” she said, sliding into the seat next to me. “Did you see his shoulders?” She made a gesture that mimicked large muscles.
“Didn’t notice.” I took a sip of my rum and Coke.
Seven of my employees sat around the table, plus Thalia, who’d gone so far as to grab my knee tonight beneath the table when no one was looking. Between Thalia’s wandering hands and Elise reeling in men like a fishing pole, I wasn’t pleased.
“Jackson, you’re too picky,” Elise said. “What was wrong with him?”
“Your friend Brendon has a wandering eye.”
She glanced at the man, who was currently chatting up another woman. “Shit. He seemed attentive, and he has nice forearms.”
I glared. “You said he had nice shoulders.”
She blinked innocently. “He has both. Forearms and shoulders are important.”
“Sure, as long as you don’t mind sharing the forearms and shoulders with other women.”
She frowned. “I’m not interested in anyone long term, but yeah, I prefer monogamy.”
I was trying to help Elise find someone, so why did it bother me to hear her appreciating another man?
Because I’d had her arms around me…
And had kissed and licked her body…
And made her come. That was why.
I was being possessive when I’d never been before.
Her mouth twisted. “I really suck at picking men. You should screen my dating app choices too. I’m especially bad at finding good dates on there.”
I squeezed my forehead. “Elise—”
No telling what I would have said if Thalia hadn’t grabbed my arm and yanked me closer to her.
“What do you think, Jack? Pub crawl? The gang is talking about heading over to North Beach.”
My arm tingled where Thalia gripped it, and not in a positive way. In a bee sting/Taser sort of way. I wasn’t attracted to my CEO, and even if I was, there was no way I’d date a subordinate; that shit was messed up. But Thalia wasn’t the type to give up easily. Which left me in a bind and reaching for the first solution that came to mind.
I straightened, creating distance between us, and dropped my arm over the back of Elise’s chair while she scanned the crowd, presumably scouting out her next target. I frowned, dropped my hand lower around her waist, and tugged her chair closer to mine. “Elise and I should get going.”
Elise looked up in surprise. “Huh? I was just about to—”
I didn’t wait for her to finish that sentence. She was probably going to complain about leaving before she could find another man I’d need to kill at a later time.
“My girlfriend is tired.” I squeezed Elise’s waist firmly, and she squeaked.
